The Dragon and the Ninja
by RedFlowerInk
Summary: Even the most amazing, most popular pro heroes were just high school students once - and with being high school students comes the standard package of terrible feelings like insecurity and worthlessness. So when the future number four top hero sees the number ten having trouble with these feelings, he's got to step in to help his friend...right? (QUIRK SPOILERS for MHA Season 4.)


**Heya, I'm back with another one-shot. This time, Edgeshot x Ryukyu, both characters aged down, set in U.A. High.**

**Although, canonically, there are age gaps between all the heroes that appear in this story, so there's no way they could have all gone to school together...but as all fanfic writers must say, with all due respect, 'f*** canon'.**

**I hope you enjoy.**

**X**

"Grrr...rar...GRAAAAARGH!"

"Watch out, Tatsuma's gone berserk!"

At the sound of the boy shouting, the huge, dragon-like beast turned around and lashed at him wildly with a clawed hand. Shinji Nishiya was only barely able to leap out of the way by turning his wooden arms into branches and using them to pull himself onto a nearby pillar.

"Kamui, are you alright?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine…"

"She _still_ can't control her Quirk?" muttered a dark-blue-haired girl in a white bodysuit as she stepped forward, looking concerned. "This is getting excessive..."

"Everyone stand back!" Class 2-A's homeroom teacher rushed forward to the middle of the training ground, and raised an arm with a large, blaster-like attachment on it. "I need space!"

The dragon creature took flight, and, with a quick swing of her tail, smashed a hole in the ceiling. Rubble rained down from the broken roof, and both teacher and students were forced to fall back to a safe distance.

"Damn it, I can't get in a safe shot without hurting her..." growled the teacher. "Edgesh-"

But Class 2-A's resident speed demon was already on the move. All anybody could see was a flash of red, and in the next second, the beast was struck forcefully in the space between her eyes, causing her to reel back slightly.

Again and again, more strands of red material hit the creature squarely on her body's different pressure points - the neck, jaw, temple, and base of her skull. The barrage of hits continued relentlessly, until the attacks started piercing through her thick hide, and blood spurted from her wounds.

Unable to handle any more hits, the beast keeled over, unconscious, and hit the ground with a thunderous crash.

As the dust cleared, the heroes-in-training were able to see the dragon's monstrous form shrink and change into that of a young girl, with short, dirty blonde hair and several pointed fangs.

At the same time, the sheets of red gathered on the floor a short distance away, and merged together to reveal a boy with sleek grey hair, dressed in a red ninja robe.

"Again, Edgeshot's the only one fast enough to calm her down, huh?" said one of his classmates. "Thanks, Kamihara!"

"No problem." said Kamihara, panting slightly.

He looked over at the bleeding form of Ryuko Tatsuma.

"Oh no, I think I went too far this time..."

His teacher stepped forward, and stared up at the hole in the ceiling with a slight frown.

"I'll have to write a report for this." he muttered. "Can one of you take Tatsuma up to the hospital wing?"

"I'll do it." offered Edgeshot. "I injured her."

His teacher nodded, and stepped aside to let him pass. Kamihara approached his classmate carefully, then he bent down and placed one hand under her knees and the other on her back. He lifted her up slowly. Trickles of blood were dripping from the areas where he had cut her.

As he turned around and carried Tatsuma out of the training ground, his classmates stepped back one by one, giving him a much wider berth than necessary. Some of them were eyeing Tatsuma nervously.

Kamihara held Tatsuma a little closer to his body. As he walked, he gazed down at her sleeping face, and he suddenly felt a strong twinge of pity for his friend.

_Why does she have to have it so hard?_

**X**

The next morning, Kamihara was folding origami at the back of the classroom when Nemuri Kayama walked in, yawning.

"Aaah...morning, everyone."

"Hi, 'Midnight'."

"Has anyone seen Tatsuma?" asked Kayama. "I need to return something to her."

"She said she was going to get in some training before class started." answered a boy with blond hair and a scarf covering his lower face. "That was...about ten minutes ago."

Kamihara glanced up from the shuriken he was folding. What Best Jeanist just said sounded odd - the previous day, it had already been evening when he brought Tatsuma to Recovery Girl, and taking into account the exhausting nature of the nurse's healing process...he was highly doubtful that Tatsuma would have the energy to train this early in the morning.

"By 'training', does she mean she wants to increase her power or her control?" asked one of the boys sharply. "Because for our sakes, I hope it's the latter. One more freakout like yesterday and she's going to actually kill someone."

Kayama looked shocked.

"Dude! How can you say that?"

"I hate to admit it, but he's right." said Shinji Nishiya, the boy with wooden arms. "Every single time she uses her Quirk, total destruction. We've been at U.A. for almost two years already, and there's only been a few times where she was actually able to control herself."

"Y-yes, but we still shouldn't be too hard on her!" said a girl with turquoise skin and blue hair. "Don't you guys think that if we just treated her a little nicer, she wouldn't find it so hard to keep her transformations in check?"

"Bubble, your heart's in the right place, but look at it this way-"

Not wanting to get dragged into an argument, Kamihara got up silently from his seat, and, with his usual ninja-like levels of stealth, slipped out of the classroom without anyone noticing.

Once outside, he decided to go and look for Tatsuma. He was certain she wouldn't do anything drastic, but he was still a little concerned for her emotional state after her outburst the day before.

That, and the fact that he didn't buy her excuse that she was just going to train.

But he couldn't seem to find her anywhere - she wasn't in the library or the courtyard, and she wasn't at the cafeteria either. Eventually, Kamihara was forced to accept that she had really gone down to the training grounds.

Taking the nearest staircase, he went down to check the one closest to their classroom.

But when he reached Training Ground Gamma and looked inside one of the windows, he was not prepared for the sight that greeted him.

Tatsuma was sitting hunched over in a corner of the arena, her head bowed low, with her knees brought up to her forehead and her arms around her shins. She was trembling slightly, as though she was feeling cold.

Kamihara was sure he heard her sobbing.

Throwing open the gate, he rushed down the stairs to talk to his friend.

"Hey...Tatsuma?"

At the sound of her name, Tatsuma looked up for a split second, but immediately ducked back down to wipe her eyes on the sleeve of her uniform.

She looked back up when Kamihara reached her side.

"H-hi, Kamihara." she said weakly, fixing him with a forced smile. "Er...what's the matter? Someone looking for me?"

"What's wrong?"

"H-huh? What do you mean? Nothing's wrong, I'm totally fine..."

Kamihara frowned. Tatsuma was a kind girl (not taking her Quirk-induced outbursts into account), but she was a terrible liar. He distinctly remembered the week before, when she had tried to trick their literature teacher into giving her extra time to finish her assignment by saying she had left her paper in the music room the previous day.

The previous day was Sunday. No one was at school.

But he didn't need to see through her lie to know that something was amiss - all he needed to do was look at her. Her eyes were red, as well as her face, and her hair was messy...she had definitely been crying.

"Hey, come on." he urged. "We're friends, you can tell me."

"I...I don't really-"

"Is this about yesterday?" asked Kamihara, deciding to take control of the conversation.

Tatsuma swallowed uncomfortably. She looked at him in silence for a second before answering.

"Yes...it's about yesterday." she finally admitted.

"Why? That wasn't the first time you lost control."

"I just...I just finally had enough of it, I guess."

"Care to explain?" Kamihara asked, sitting down on the floor beside her and giving her a concerned look. He hoped he wasn't being too intrusive.

Tatsuma's lower lip quivered. She seemed to hesitate for a while, then, leaning back against the wall, she let out a sigh and began to speak.

"My Quirk is 'Dragon'. When I activate it, I lose my mind and go on a violent rampage. Likewise, if I get too angry in my human form, my Quirk activates on its own and I fly into one of my rages. Sometimes, it's so bad that I don't even remember what I do while I'm transformed...but you already know all that." she added with a hollow laugh.

"I thought it would get better over time. I thought if I just kept using my Quirk, I'd get used to it and my outbursts would stop. But…"

She made a choking noise, and her voice became high and shaky.

"But...it's already our second year, and...and it's still just as bad as before...it's horrible. Kamihara, should I just quit? I only decided to become a hero because everyone around me...my parents, my friends, my teachers...they all said my Quirk would get me popular, and I guess I let that get to my head...I'm not like you or Nishiya or Takeyama, I don't have a proper goal in mind, I don't deserve to be here..."

By this point, she had started crying again. She didn't bother trying to hide it this time - glistening tears fell swiftly from her eyes to the floor. She raised a violently shaking hand to her mouth, and she started taking sharp, laboured breaths. When she started speaking again, it seemed to be taking her a great effort just to talk.

"And...right now...what's happening right now is the exact opposite of what I wanted, isn't it? Everyone hates me because of my Quirk, because I keep hurting them...I-I can't become a hero like this. If I ever try to save anyone, I'm just going to put them in danger and make things worse. I really _should_ just quit..."

Kamihara stared at her, not sure what to say. What Tatsuma was saying about her feelings all was new information for him - he was well aware of the complications that came with her Quirk, but every day, she always seemed so carefree and joyful...he never would have guessed that she was feeling weighed down by such a heavy burden.

"Tatsuma, look at me." Kamihara tugged at her trembling hand, and pulled it towards himself. He grasped it tightly in his own. "Don't quit. You can be a great hero, I know it. You _can_ save people..."

Tatsuma shook her head. "Please don't say meaningless things like that. I hate that."

"I meant what I said."

"Prove it, then!" she shouted, suddenly glaring at Kamihara with her fierce yellow eyes. "I've never been able to save anyone, not once! All I can do is destroy...show me one time I've been able to save someone, just one person I've rescued-"

"Me."

"W-wait...what?" Tatsuma stuttered.

She was unable to make any other sound for a while, but eventually managed to force out a short sentence.

"What do you...what are you talking about?"

Kamihara blushed, and placed a hand awkwardly behind his head. He couldn't help but feel like averting his gaze from hers.

Looking away, he said, "Tatsuma, do you remember when we did our internship with Starstrike this year?"

"That new hero? Y-yeah, I remember her. We got separated from her during a patrol, and when we ran into a villain, I had one of my freakouts and ended up hurting the both of you, right?"

"That seriously how you remember it?"

Tatsuma's expression became puzzled.

"I told you, there are times when I don't remember what I do during my rampages. All I remember was transforming to fight that villain, and then...nothing. The next thing I knew, Starstrike was trying to restrain me, while you and the villain were lying on the floor..." She shuddered a little. "C-covered in...blood..."

She shrunk back against the wall, and gave Kamihara a guilty look.

"I hurt you, didn't I? Just like every other time I transformed, I couldn't control my rage and attacked my ally..."

"Yeah, well...that's what the report said." Kamihara said with an awkward smile. "Starstrike said another rampage would look bad on your record if made public, so she just chalked it up to one, put the file away, and didn't look into it any further. But...what happened was different."

His cheeks went slightly red, but he continued talking.

"That one time...we were in a wide open street, with no places for me to leap to...it was hard for me to fight. And the villain was coming at us with that huge knife of his...so I kept urging you to transform and start fighting, but you just refused to do it. And then...that guy ran forward and slashed me, right across the front. That's how I got injured."

"Oh my gosh, that happened? All because I wouldn't fight? I-I'm so sorry-"

"Wait, I'm not done." Kamihara interjected. "So...after that, I was lying down, bleeding like crazy, and the guy with the knife stepped on me to make sure I couldn't move...I thought I was done for. But then - I think it was because you saw me get hurt and got really furious or something - but then you activated your Quirk and smacked that man away like a ragdoll."

To Tatsuma's surprise, he then let out a slight laugh.

"You should have seen it - he flew right through a concrete wall. Back then, I was actually seriously scared of you - you usually strike everything around you without thinking, so I thought you were going to kill me. But you just looked right at me - for a solid five seconds, so you definitely knew I was there - and then you just left and went after that guy. Then...I guess you beat him up pretty badly. I don't know - I fell unconscious until Starstrike came to find us."

Tatsuma was silent as she took in all this. At the same time, Kamihara just leaned back against the wall and grinned.

"So...don't be too hard on yourself, alright? You can save people, you have it in you - you _have_ saved people."

"Is...is this all true?"

"I wouldn't lie about something like this."

Hearing this, Tatsuma began to smile slightly - and then her face fell again as she looked at Kamihara moodily.

"But that was just one incident, though...and I couldn't even remember it, so I'm clearly still not in control of my mind...who's to say I'm not going to freak out again?"

"Well...I'll be honest. You'll probably lose control again. But the next time we do battle training in class, just remember that you were able to control your mind in order to save someone. Remember that you saved me."

Tatsuma seemed to struggle with herself for a moment - and then she started smiling again, even wider than before. Kamihara could see her pointed teeth.

"Alright...I'll try. Thanks, Kamihara. I really needed to hear that."

"Anything for a friend."

She nodded.

"You can let go of my hand now, by the way."

"Huh?"

Kamihara looked down, and then he realised with a jolt that he had still been holding on to her hand this whole time.

"Ah...I'm sorry!" he stammered, quickly pulling his hand away. "I wasn't trying anything, seriously-"

"It's okay, I know." said Tatsuma, grinning widely, feeling like a huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Still grinning, she continued looking at Kamihara, her slitted yellow eyes locking with his.

She vaguely noted that he looked rather cute when flustered.

"By the way, that reminds me of something." Tatsuma suddenly said. "Our little stint with Starstrike was a month ago...ever since then, you've been standing up for me whenever the others gave me trouble for my Quirk...is that the cause of it?"

"Well, uh...yeah." he answered, blushing slightly.

"I see..."

Tatsuma said nothing for a moment - and then, after staring at Kamihara for a second more, she inexplicably burst into giggles.

"What?" asked Kamihara, a little defensively.

"N-nothing." she said, calming down. "It's just...I never imagined I'd be getting emotional help from the boy who did the ninja sprint to the cafeteria once in our first year."

"Oh God, don't remind me..." croaked Kamihara, turning pale at the memory of his past self.

This caused Tatsuma to laugh harder, and Kamihara started to feel annoyed.

"Don't you have any other ways of improving your control?" he asked, wanting to change the subject. "Practice is one thing, but maybe you can get some support items to help you."

"Oh...I actually went down to the design studio a few days ago to get a new item picked up."

She started rummaging through her bag.

"It's meant to help with my control...it took a really long time to make because of all the tech it uses, and I haven't really tried it out yet. Anyway, here it is."

From her bag, she pulled out an object that consisted of a light green headband, with a pattern of scales, and four large purple claws attached to its side.

She wrapped the device around her forehead.

"I don't quite get how it works, but if I turn this on while I activate my Quirk, it's supposed to suppress my mind and stop me from going berserk - not sure how effective it is, though."

She clicked the four dragon claws into place, and turned to look at Kamihara, frowning.

"It looks silly, doesn't it?" she pouted. "I kept telling that boy in the support course to make it something simple, but he insisted on going on with the dragon motif-"

"No, it looks amazing!" Kamihara said before he could stop himself. "It'll go great with your costume!"

Without thinking twice, he reached out and adjusted the headband so that the claws covered Tatsuma's right eye.

He only realised what he was doing a moment later, with his hand outstretched and placed around the device on Tatsuma's head.

"S-sorry." he said softly, as he pulled his hand away.

"It's okay. I owe you one."

Tatsuma glanced down at her watch, and suddenly the colour drained from her face.

"Oh no...class started ten minutes ago." she said weakly. "Should we get going?"

"Huh? Oh...yeah, we should. Our teacher's going to kill us if we don't hurry."

Together, they got up from the concrete floor, and rushed out of the arena. They continued running until they reached the top of the stairs leading to their classroom, where they slowed down, knowing that they would get in even worse trouble if they got caught running down the corridor.

As they walked, neither of them spoke at first - they wanted to catch their breath.

A moment later, Tatsuma found herself staring at Kamihara, and thinking about something which she had taken note of many times before, but was only really paying attention to now - he was actually rather good-looking.

The way he styled his hair was cute - his overall appearance was attractive, really. Even though he was only dressed in the school's uniform...or maybe that was what made his grey hair stand out like that.

She felt her heart beat a little faster.

Throwing caution to the wind, she decided that she could afford to add one more thing to the list of what she owed Kamihara. Perhaps he wouldn't reject her like that boy with the clone Quirk or the one with homing bullets.

"Hey...Shinya?"

"Huh?" Kamihara sounded a little thrown off by her use of his first name.

"You know how to do origami, right? I've seen you do it in class."

"Uh, yeah, it's a small hobby of mine."

"Can you show me how to make a dragon one of these days? It's my favourite model."

"Okay, sure...but why?"

She shrugged.

"Just want to spend some time with you, I guess."

"Uh...alright, then."

He seemed rather uncomfortable while he said this. Clearly, he had no idea why she was acting so weird.

Tatsuma sighed. Small talk wasn't going to work here - this called for a more direct approach.

"Shinya."

Much to Kamihara's discomfort, Tatsuma suddenly moved to stand in front of her, and slowly closed the distance between them, forcing him to move back - he ended up pinned against a wall.

He had no choice but to meet her gaze, and his face instantly went red. The way Tatsuma was staring at him with a sly grin was greatly unsettling.

"T-Tatsuma, we're already running late-"

"Tell me, you got a girlfriend?"

"Uh...no?"

"Good."

Without saying another word, she leaned in, and placed her lips on his, making him freeze. The sides of her mouth curled up into a smirk as she revelled in the boldness of this action.

Kamihara's mind was blank, yet at the same time it was sent into an incomprehensible frenzy. What was she doing? Why this all of a sudden? Did she really think of him in that way? Sure, they were fairly close, considering that he had to be around her whenever she did Quirk training, but was this seriously appropriate...?

Well, whatever.

Returning the favour, he met her kiss with equal force - she stepped back two paces because of this.

Even now, he still wasn't totally sure what was going on...but he wasn't complaining. It felt good.

He seriously wasn't prepared for this.

And neither was Kayama, who, in the midst of returning from a visit to the bathroom, took one look at the two of them kissing in the corridor, and proceeded to let out a high-pitched squeal of excitement that could be heard at least four classrooms away.

Something told Kamihara that the whole school would be hearing about this by the end of the day.

**X**

**Aaaaand, done-zo! Well, that was fun to write. Hopefully it was just as good of a read!**


End file.
